Do submersible green lights Work at night??

[italianice77]

I like fishing for crappie at night, Does anybody have good luck with submersible green lights? and what kind do you use? Thanks

[Whopper Stopper]

I am guessing they work very well.

They are illegal in MN which tells me their usage is positive.

             WS

[hardwater diehard]

Used one last season ...do a lot of night fishing ...worked well

[jumbo chaser]

Good to hear

[bean counter]

they work great!  I use them a lot

[masoneddie]

I've been doing some research on these as well for both open and hardwater. For you guys that use them, would you mind sharing some of your experiences with mfg. type, quality, battery life, etc.?
I've been looking at the AlumiGlo more than others now, but would like to hear your opinions and comments on what you're using.  Feel free to PM if you don't want to openly reply...thanks!

[Old Goat]

Mason Eddie I looked a bit on the net.  I went to a site from Kentucky www.10cled.com they had some lights cheap. I also seen videos on the net where people make their own. I'll keep searching

[DaveSS1]

I have had very good luck with the alumiglo, 24" led.  It is built to last.  They run around $130 online or at cabelas for the 24" and will run all night off a fully charged 12v battery (similar to your flasher battery).  I mainly use it for smelt fishing, but if crappie is your target, I would imagine it would help as it does draw in the plankton and baitfish as advertised.
I do have a few buddies that use the one from bass pro that run about +/-$30.  I don't believe they are LED, but for the most part seam to do the job, but I have heard mix results/reviews online when used for long periods of time but for the price it might be worth trying out.

[hardwater diehard]

I started out with this unit
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Optronics-Sumbersible-Fish-N-Lites-Green-LED/22177841?action=product_interest&action_type=title&item_id=22177841&placement_id=irs-106-t1&strategy=PWVUB&visitor_id&category=&client_guid=1d4f88f4-1180-45be-bb4a-0f8137155a39&customer_id_enc&config_id=106&parent_item_id=21080933&parent_anchor_item_id=21080933&guid=1b056fd2-ca9b-4921-b236-d5eb077be65a&bucket_id=irsbucketdefault&beacon_version=1.0.1&findingMethod=p13n

but that got some water in it and that was it for that light ...nice though the AAA batteries lasted quite a bit of time

last season up graded to this ....I run it off a spare 12v SLA

http://www.walmart.com/ip/NightBlaster-UW-100G-NightBlaster-Submersible-Fish-N-Lite-Green/21080933

Aqua Vu makes a light

http://www.aquavu.com/Products/Aqua-Vu-New-Underwater-Cameras/Bio-Lume-Underwater-Fish-Attracting-Light

I usually deploy my light on my outings day or night ...if you get one toss it off a dock before ice up and see for yourself

kinda scary ..the larger predator fish will nose into the light but stay in the shadows will plankton,baitfish and smaller fish will be in the grren glo

[ryan3703]

does this work for perch or walleye fishing?

[hardwater diehard]

[SeisMec]

I lived in Louisiana for close to 15 years and every time I went night fishing we used lanterns, every private dock would have arc lights set up and on.  For bank fishing we would use heavy cane pole and hang the lanterns out over the water. First you would see the plankton move in then the bait fish and then the predator fish. Unless there was a bad front coming in we rarely went home without a limit of fish. This worked for both freshwater and saltwater fishing. I've set up lanterns on glare ice and lightly snow covered ice around my flip over and have had good results. I would use aluminum foil to increase the size of the reflect top and curve it down to help reflect the light down more than out.

[wish4fish]

How far from the light do you usually set up?         I switched to LED light which was brighter than the fluorescent. I usually set up about 5-10 ft from the light but had better luck w/ the dimmer light.

[SeisMec]

How far from the light do you usually set up?         I switched to LED light which was brighter than the fluorescent. I usually set up about 5-10 ft from the light but had better luck w/ the dimmer light.

I still use propane lanterns and set them out about 15 ft on either side of the flipover and I try to set up parallel to a drop off.  We can use 4 lines per person here so we jig in the flipover and set a line of tipup and autosetters with alarms parallel to the drop off on either side of us. This works best for me if I'm up on top of a point or mound/hump where the target fish will come up to forage for baitfish.

[squ1rr31_]

We used to have a sponsor called Crappie Candles, not sure if they're still a sponsor or not but you might give them a look?

[panfishman13]

the idea is to attract zooplankton, which attracts smaller baitfish, which in turn attracts larger predator fish.

as for actual practice, every time i've used one while night fishing, i've caught fish. i'm not sure my catch rate has improved, but it certainly hasn't hurt the fishing. i'm going to be using mine more often this year, hopefully. last year was not a great year for ice in my neck of the woods

[wish4fish]

I find that after a while of using the light it draws in so much plankton and small stuff that my flasher can't distinguish targets. At first adjusting the gain helps but eventually I have to move if I want to use the flasher.

[river_scum]

yes they do work. not every night but most nights.  so dont give up if it dont work a couple nights you try.  you also have to be in the rite  neighborhood. 

[lcshtsm]

Anyone ever try this?  Not a lot of reviews on it anywhere.  Runs on AAA and is 240 lumens and untra portable without the added weight of another 12v battery.

https://www.nebotools.com/prod_details.php?id=368

[panfishman13]

just got back from a trip where we used green lights to hold fish in an area long after dark. absolutely slammed the crappie and bluegills.

first, we found a nice defined weed edge and drilled a series of holes along it; then put a light every 3 holes (we had about 5 lights running for 3 fishermen, plus a lantern each) set up a dead rod next to the hole we were jigging in, and caught good sized crappie and gills for about 4 hours before it got too cold to stay out. there wasn't really a break in the action, except for those other two guys i was fishing with; they didn't have a sonar so they couldn't see what depth the fish were hanging at. biggest crappie of the night was about 11 inches, biggest gill was 9 inches.

hope this helps!

[DoctorPerch]

Panfishman,

So approximately how far from the holes with the lights did you fish?  Were you at the edge of the lights brightness or in an area of high intensity light.  Just received a light for Xmas and getting ready to try it.  How deep did you hang the light with respect to the depth you were fishing?  Thanks for your help!

[big bobber]

Panfishman,

So approximately how far from the holes with the lights did you fish?  Were you at the edge of the lights brightness or in an area of high intensity light.  Just received a light for Xmas and getting ready to try it.  How deep did you hang the light with respect to the depth you were fishing?  Thanks for your help!

let me put a rest to this.ive tried lights..green and white.okay..yes..they do attract zoo and baitfish.thats proven.however...light s in the winter scare fish.they are spooky and lethargic enough.water is cold..things slow down.i have noticed if fish are hungry..they eat..if they are not hungry..they will still bite.let me ask before I go any further.have you ever caught crappie at night?

[big bobber]

not tryin to be a dick..but ive invested a lot of time night fishing due to my life schedule.i fish for wallyeye..and crappie almost exclusivey.

[pikeaddict]

I wouldn't use any light source fishing for walleye whatsoever. However, I ice fish crappie 2 to 3 nights a week, and I will never go without my hydroglow since I started using it two winters ago. I always have it right under the ice even over 40 FOW. If I forgot my light at home I would turn around and go home to get it. The light and flasher are two pieces of gear I won't leave home without when going out for crappie at night.

[panfishman13]

So approximately how far from the holes with the lights did you fish?  Were you at the edge of the lights brightness or in an area of high intensity light.  Just received a light for Xmas and getting ready to try it.  How deep did you hang the light with respect to the depth you were fishing?  Thanks for your help!

we had the lights about 3 or 4 feet from where we were fishing, so a fairly high intensity light, and we set the lights just above the tops of the weeds.

let me put a rest to this.ive tried lights..green and white.okay..yes..they do attract zoo and baitfish.thats proven.however...light s in the winter scare fish.they are spooky and lethargic enough.water is cold..things slow down.i have noticed if fish are hungry..they eat..if they are not hungry..they will still bite.let me ask before I go any further.have you ever caught crappie at night?

yes, i have caught crappie at night, but before you go too far down this road, i'm gonna point out that we weren't using the lights to attract fish, simply to hold them in an area for longer than they would have been without the lights. using lights to attract fish would take far longer than the couple of hours we were there.

i've never had lights scare fish in the winter, what i have noticed when i do use lights at night is that the bites are less tentative than they may otherwise be. i think that this is not so much to do with attracting plankton as it is to do with underwater visibility. same reason we use glow jigs and such; it's dark under the ice, and fish (especially sight-oriented predators like crappie) are more likely to eat something they can see.

[big bobber]

okay,,now we know that.but have you caught them at night with no light?imo if you are a lake with a night bite(which is hard to find sometimes)that means fish feed at night.crappie are dusk/night feeders..this is age old.if there are crappie to be caught at night..you will catch them without a light..ive used them..and they never helped.ive had 2 shacks set up 100 yrds apart...one with the green light..one with my lantern in the shack...guess where I caught all the fish?this light may work for some...not me.

[panfishman13]

i have never caught them at night without a light source of some sort. before i bought the green lights, it was 3 or 4 coleman lanterns and shallow water. this was before i knew it was legal to use a submersible light in Idaho.

it may be a lake specific thing, as well. there's only one place i've ever really tried fishing for crappie at night, i've never gone to other lakes with crappie and tried it. either way, apparently it works for me and doesn't work for you.

so i guess the lesson to take away from this is, if you have confidence in a technique, feel free to use it. if not, why bother? i know if i had never caught fish while using my lights, i would have sold them and bought some new reels or something. but they've worked so far, so i have confidence in them.

[big bobber]

good deal.probably a water clarity thing.the lake it is working for you..is the water clear..or is it rusty? ???ill try your technique..as I was doing it alittle different.dont hurt to try again with a new technique..ill let you know how I do...cuz I really do like the light...just never got it to work for me...I do have a ?do you put the light in before dark??I assume..but how long before dark

[panfishman13]

the water is usually pretty clear in that lake, about 15 feet of visibility most days; but when there's been heavy wind or an algae bloom it can turn into pea soup. very green, sometimes brown water. i've tried putting them in before dark and after dark, and so far i haven't really noticed much of a difference catch-wise. :/ that said, it's a lot nicer to have everything set up and planned out well before dark, cuz once it's dark it's a lot harder to set up and get going; especially because of the cold.